Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
Innovation

MeriTalk recently connected with Dan Chenok, executive director at IBM’s Center for The Business of Government, to discuss the center’s recent “Innovation and Emerging Technologies in Government” research, authored by Alan Shark. This article takes a deeper look at the use cases outlined in the report, the five key mindsets that emerged from the interviews, and the connection found between innovation and technology. […]

CISA

Few things seem to unite Republicans and Democrats these days, but President Trump’s abrupt firing of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Christopher Krebs seems to be one of the issues bucking that trend. President Trump fired Krebs via his Twitter account on Tuesday evening, prompting a mix of outrage and disapproval from members of Congress […]

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video conferencing

Now that much of the Federal government workforce has eight months of pandemic-driven telework under its belt, government officials are examining how that experience has changed the future landscape of providing service to citizens, and how to incorporate lessons learned for what may be the longer haul of remote work. […]

Sean Connelly, who heads the TIC Program Office at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said today that his office is aiming to release a remote-user use case for the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) 3.0 security initiative that will build on interim TIC guidance the agency issued earlier this year to help Federal agencies migrate quickly to large-scale telework. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) component is looking for technology to enable remote exam proctoring, according to a Nov. 16 solicitation post on Beta.Sam.gov. […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released guidance for regulating AI applications, pursuant to Executive Order 13859, “Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence.” […]

Christopher Krebs under secretary undersecretary DHS Department of Homeland Security National Protection and Programs Directorate NPPD leader CISA cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency
White House
funding

President-Elect Joe Biden this week urged Congress to approve a COVID-19 stimulus bill similar to the HEROES Act approved by the House earlier this year, but didn’t get into further specifics about what he’d like to see in future relief legislation. […]

As the Federal Election Commission (FEC) dealt with oversight of a massive increase in campaign donations during a presidential election cycle, the agency at the same time struggled with its cybersecurity and the absence of a full-time CIO, the FEC’s Office of the Inspector General found in a report released November 13. […]

Budget Federal spending
DOJ Department of Justice
DHS

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has flagged several ongoing IT management issues at the agency as part of its annual report of major management and performance challenges facing DHS. […]

innovation

Federal IT leaders estimate that agencies have advanced modernization efforts by four to five years in recent months, and all hope to continue the momentum. They say improved data sharing between new and legacy systems is the No. 1 opportunity to move modernization forward. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of the Chief Financial Officer recently completed the transition of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to a DHS integrated financial, procurement, and asset management system. […]

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The chairs of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Reform committees warned the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and its Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) against engaging in “midnight rulemakings” in the waning days of the Trump administration that don’t give Congress adequate time to review the new rules. […]

Defending HVAs

With network attack surfaces expanding, aggressive adversaries circling, and the Federal government more reliant than ever on the effective functioning of information technology to deliver citizen services, mitigating cyber threats and improving cyber security is a top priority. […]

ODNI

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe announced that Matthew Kozma is the new CIO for the Intelligence Community (IC). In his new role, Kozma will advise the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on information management, technology, and assurance, including IT infrastructure and investment priorities across the IC’s 17 agencies […]

Navy seal

The U.S. Navy and its revitalized CIO office is looking to modernize its systems and capabilities, with artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool to tackle a complicated environment, said Christopher Cleary, Navy CISO, in a November 12 speech. […]

The United States Air Force (USAF) is bringing “man’s best friend” into the 21st Century. Tyndall Air Force Base will be one of the first military bases to implement semi-autonomous robot dogs into their patrolling regiment. […]

The skyrocketing popularity of collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams and Zoom for telework created a relatively new attack vector for hackers. Bad actors are now turning to methods like “Zoom-bombing” and requesting to collaborate on documents in Teams to gain access to sensitive information. […]

A new report from the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) examines human capital challenges facing the Federal government, and lays out several recommendations to modernize the Federal workforce in 2021 that could be accomplished via executive order from the next presidential administration. […]

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